Mr. Percy fired by Mr. Dawson - please help

Hello fellow Class of 2009 members,

Some of you were nice enough to help me get as many names as possible on this list, and I appreciate all you have already done to help out Mr. Percy. For those of you who do not know the whole shady situation, here it is:

Last spring Mr. Percy was offered a position as a College Adviser at a school in the Boston area at a higher salary and with more job security (and health coverage) than in his current position at City. He did not want to leave (he genuinely cares City and about the people there) but was having trouble justifying staying until he was offered similar terms for his contract with City. Mr. Percy agreed to stay and all was well until this summer, when he came in to school to sign his new contract and begin preparing for the upcoming school year. Instead of the contract he had been promised, he was instead given a contract identical to the one he had been on last year. Mr. Percy was told several excuses including that this was for his own protection since a "North Avenue" person might be placed into a new permanent position, and that this was because there was not enough room in the budget to support his new position but that perhaps by November it would be possible to upgrade him to the position he had been promised. Mr. Percy agreed to work under this less than ideal arrangement, but did make a point to express his concern to Mr. Dawson. Mr. Dawson responded by telling Mr. Percy that he was opening his position to new applicants, that he could interview to keep his job on Friday, August 15th, and ultimately informing him on Monday, August 18th (the day before teachers were to report back to work) that someone else had been hired as director of the College Advising Office.

At this point, it seems that the best course of action will be for as many members of the City College community to contact Dr. Alonso to express support for Mr. Percy and concern that City will be diminished by his loss. The class of 2009 is going to be the most affected group. When combined the new hires in the College Advising Office do not have Mr. Percy's College Advising experience and they also do not have much time to set everything up for our interviews and applications. You can also help Mr. Percy and our class by expressing your support of Mr. Percy and your concern about the irrational decision Mr. Dawson made. The more positive information Dr. Alonso has regarding Mr. Percy, the greater the impact of this effort will be. Already Mr. Dawson is attempting to spin this dismissal by stating that Mr. Percy did not do a very good job as director, and by saying that Mr. Percy was holding the school hostage for more money and did not really want the job. These statements are not true! Please contact the following people. Then forward this to all other City students and alumni so that they can also get involved. Get your parents and teachers in on this if you can since this needs to be a community effort! Do not let Mr. Dawson chase away any more good people from City! This is a trend that we cannot allow to continue!

Contact: (Please contact both of these individuals as well as anyone else you think needs to know about this). Please e-mail and call because it is hard to know which method is more effective.

Dr. Alonso (Superintendent)
W (410) 396-8803
Fax (410) 396-8898
aalonso@bcps.k12.md.us

Roger Shaw (Director of Secondary Schools)
(443) 984 2958
rshaw@bcps.k12.md.us

Thank you in advance for your help.

City Forever.